


With Memories, Come Nightmares

by Sylphrena_Honors_Shardling



Series: With Memories... [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Author tried 3 times to separate the paragraphs to no avail, Bonding, Gen, Hazel is mentioned, Literally 3 times, No one writes about how Nico went through Tarturus, Reyna is best sister, Reyna wants to help with that, So is Clarisse, Uugh Author cannot figure out how to write PARAGRAPHS in this thing, and frank, but cute too, this is kinda sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:29:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28727379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylphrena_Honors_Shardling/pseuds/Sylphrena_Honors_Shardling
Summary: Reyna couldn’t sleep. It was well into the night, probably between midnight and three. She had energy from when she had managed to fall asleep earlier in the night, so she doubted that she would fall asleep again.Unfortunately, nightmares gave off adrenaline. She could feel the blood rushing through her veins. Even though she had tried, she had been unable to redirect her dreams to the Gardens of Bacchus. There had just been an underlying sense of dread and fear that she couldn’t shake off. There was a feeling of pure agony that followed her.~Reyna wakes from a nighmare and realizes that Nico had one, too. She decides to help. Let's see how well this works.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo & Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano
Series: With Memories... [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2106009
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	With Memories, Come Nightmares

Reyna couldn’t sleep. It was well into the night, probably between midnight and three. She had energy from when she had managed to fall asleep earlier in the night, so she doubted that she would fall asleep again.  
Unfortunately, nightmares gave off adrenaline. She could feel the blood rushing through her veins. Even though she had tried, she had been unable to redirect her dreams to the Gardens of Bacchus. There had just been an underlying sense of dread and fear that she couldn’t shake off. There was a feeling of pure agony that followed her.  
Thankfully, she had avoided screaming. She planned on excusing herself from the Ares Cabin, which was where she had been staying. She would take her spear and sword with her in case of a monster. Logically, she knew there wouldn’t be one, but the dream had really shaken her.  
It was the last week of May, so most people were at both camps. They had decided to host the reunion at Camp Half Blood this year. It would be one of Reyna’s last years in the Legion and her last as Preator, so she was planning to make the trip the best one the young Legionnaires had ever been on.  
All of the Legionnaires that were training at Camp Jupiter had been invited. Upon their arrival, they had been split up into groups. She and the children of Mars, including Frank, had been sent to the Ares Cabin. The councilor of their cabin, Clarisse, had invited her into the councilor’s room along with three other demigods.  
Everyone had been split up by their Godly parents, which was interesting. Hazel was in the Hades Cabin with Nico. Dakota moved in with Pollux in the Dionysus Cabin. There were many people who had to camp out on the floors, but everyone seemed happy.  
Reyna didn’t want to wake them. She slowly and calmly lifted the window of Clarisse’s room up. She carefully lowered herself down to the ground. She turned around and shut the window. She left it unlocked, because she wanted to be able to get back in.  
She had her spear and sword, so she marched into the woods. No one else would be there. She could empty her mind there. There was also the added benefit that the Harpies wouldn’t see her out after curfew.  
Like, seriously, she was a grown woman. She did not need to be babysat for all of her life. She was (as of recently) nineteen. She could handle herself. It wasn’t like she was going on some romantic getaway, either.  
She allowed her unsteadiness of the dream to translate to feelings of anger toward the harpies. She didn’t let her anger get too far, just enough to distract her.  
As she traveled closer to the woods, she started to feel a familiar sense of dread. Thinking it was just her memories, she continued on. She realized she was wrong when a sudden shock of fear ran through her. Suddenly, all the pain, anger, fear, and dread she wasn’t aware she was tense from left her. She felt better.  
She looked around, wondering what could have caused that. She checked what cabins she was around. She noticed that she was by the Hades Cabin.  
She then remembered that overwhelming dread and fear she had felt. She had felt it before. It had been years, nearly three, since she had carried the Athena Parthenos from Europe to Camp Half Blood. It had been years since she had used her powers to lend strength and ability to demigods.  
But she would never forget the pure anguish that came from Nico. She would never forget how much taking a little bit of his burden hurt. She would never forget the fear and dread that he felt. It was the same.  
Reyna remembered that he could communicate with others through his dreams. She wondered if his nightmares had bled through that ability. She wondered if anyone else noticed.  
Assuming that the sudden loss of Nico’s feelings meant he was awake, Reyna had no idea what to do. She felt like she should comfort him, but that would be really weird for both of them. They had kept in touch over the years, so they were still friends, but like…  
It would just be super awkward for anyone involved if she went into his bedroom at three in the morning. There was no way anyone, including Hazel, who was there as well, would escape that situation feeling anything but uncomfortable.  
But she didn’t want to leave him. For some reason, she had felt a little of what he felt. She didn’t want him to deal with that alone. That wasn’t something friends did.  
The question: enter the Hades Cabin and talk to him or figure something else out.  
Reyna was chewing on her lip, struggling to decide. She came to a decision that she would go in, but she was going to plan for what would happen first. She would try to make her appearance as smooth as possible, hopefully not scaring Hazel.  
While she was thinking about how she would help Nico, she noticed a shadow that became suddenly darker in the distance. Nico appeared in its place, barely visible in the small amounts of light coming from the center of Camp Half Blood. Reyna blinked. That solved a few problems. She walked over to him.  
“Nico,” she called softly.  
He was shaking. He stumbled closer to the woods and ran. She followed him. She heard his panicked breathing. She saw his arms shaking. He stopped at a tree and sat down by the trunk, curling into a ball.  
When she reached him, he made no move. She wasn’t sure he was aware of her presence. He was rocking back and forth, muttering something.  
“I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m fine I’m fine I’mfineI’mfineI’mfineI’mfineI’mfineI’mfine!”  
His muttering turned to sobs and his rocking motions increased.  
Reyna didn’t know what to do.  
She never knew what to do.  
She dispelled her doubts. Those never helped anyone. An idea came to her: she could share peacefulness with him.  
Well, in order to do that, she had to be at peace. As Nico continued shaking, Reyna calmed herself. She sent her negative emotions away and let clarity claim her.  
She kneeled down in front of him and wrapped her arms around Nico. He flinched, but didn’t pull away. She pressed her forehead against his and focused on sending her calmness, her clarity, and her strength to him.  
As she pressed her feelings to him, she felt some of his burden. She had been expecting it, but nothing could have prepared her for the agony she felt.  
Suddenly, Reyna felt glad she had seen him. She wanted to do anything to help ease his burden, even if only in small amounts. She would take his pain.  
Tears fell down her cheeks and she realized they were falling off of his as well. She pulled him closer and wrapped her arms around him tighter.  
“I’m here, Nico,” she said.  
He borrowed his head in closer. “I’m scared, Bianca.”  
Reyna froze at the unexpected comparison. He thought she was his sister? The one so dear and close he could only tell stories about in pained fragments. He thought her comfort was… Bianca’s?  
Reyna decided that she would make sure to do this more often. She would search him out and try to help him. In the four and a half years she had known him, she had never seen him break down like this.  
She wouldn’t let his pain poison him from the inside.  
What was it he had said? If you don’t use your voice, you’re halfway to Asphodel already? Well, he certainly wasn’t following his own advice.  
She ran a hand through his hair. That was what she was for, what friends were for. She would make sure he took care of himself.  
“Me, too,” she replied, because she was. She was scared for him. Fear wasn’t something she let herself feel often, but she let herself feel scared for him. She let herself feel scared that she wouldn’t be able to help him.  
“I still see him.”  
Reyna wondered who he was referring to. She had a sinking suspicion.  
“The fire and the rivers and.. her. They taunt me in my dreams. I see him laughing as he tortures me. I see her stroke my face with gnarled fingers.”  
It hit Reyna, though her guess had been right. He was talking about Tarturus.  
Tears and sniffles abounded. “She said that there was nothing she would change, Bianca. The goddess of Misery said she wouldn’t change anything about my life.”  
Reyna ran her fingers through his hair again. She didn’t know that. It was terrible.  
“Bianca, can you make it stop hurting?” he questioned.  
Reyna’s heart felt like it was about to break. A fresh wave of tears hit her eyes.  
“No, I can’t. I’m sorry Nico.”  
“Oh. Okay.” He continued crying for a while. Reyna continued running her hands through his hair. She was not his sister, but she would not abandon him. She would take care of him tonight.  
Somewhere around the time her legs started to regain feeling (which always sucked, even in comparison to stab wounds) Reyna noticed that he was asleep. Once again, Reyna contemplated her options. She decided to lean back against the tree and pull Nico closer. That way they could both get some sleep.  
There was the added benefit that it would be unlikely for the Harpies to find them, too. There was curfew after all. They would be very unhappy to find two of their charges out of bed while it was dark. It would probably be best to go back in the morning.  
But mainly, this felt like the right thing to do. Reyna remembered little about her life before she was eight, mostly fragmented memories and fear of her father, but she distinctly remembered how Hylla would act on nights when her nightmares were especially bad.  
She remembered how her sister, ten years older than she was and far too big for the little bed she had, would climb in next to her. She wouldn’t tell any stories or sing, but she would lay in the bed and hold her. That was the safest she ever remembered feeling.  
She wouldn’t take that feeling away from him. Not when he needed it. Not when she could help him.  
As usual, Reyna didn’t remember falling asleep. Unlike usual, she didn’t remember any dreams or nightmares that may have happened. She opened her eyes and realized that it was brighter than it had been before.  
Reyna looked down at Nico. He was still asleep. Her arm was numb, though, so that would hurt. Actually her entire body hurt from sleeping like that. She registered faintly that her neck would probably be bothering her for the rest of the day.  
She didn’t care that it hurt a little. She was just glad she could help him. She had very few friends, after all, so they were very precious to her. Besides, after getting to know him, there was something about him that just made her want to protect him. Since that was unlikely to ever happen, Reyna figured that she might as well be able to comfort him.  
She waited through the stabbing hot and cold sensation that was her arm regaining its blood flow. She looked around. The campers were not required to leave the cabins until eight, but breakfas was at seven thirty. That meant most campers woke up at around seven and rotated through showers and the bathrooms.  
Clarisse woke up at six thirty, which meant she probably had to get going. She had been waking up at six every morning for the last several years, so it was probably six.  
The question was whether she was going to wake Nico up and send him off to his cabin or not. She really ought to be back in hers before Clarisse woke up, but it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. They were both grown adults, and the other three were close to it.  
Still, it would be setting a bad example to be sneaking out of the cabins at night. And she was supposed to be the good example. Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed Nico’s pulse was racing. Considering the fact that she was wearing a long sleeved shirt, that was concerning.  
Reyna reached her free hand out and placed it on his shoulder. She was running through any ideas when he jerked forward. “Bianca!” he shouted. He jerked his hands over his mouth.  
He looked around, eyes wide. He looked at her and blinked. “Reyna?” he asked.  
She smiled at him. “Yeah, I’m here.”  
“Where are we? How did we get here?” he asked.  
As Reyna opened her mouth to explain, he winced. “Oh,” he mumbled, “I remember now.”  
Reyna moved into a kneeling position. She rested her arm on his shoulder again. “I’ll be here, Nico. You don’t have to go through this alone.”  
She offered her hand to him and helped him stand. She watched him think about what she said. His black eyes were holding some emotion she was unable to distinguish.  
As she was looking up at him (yes, up. In the three years since she had really begun to get to know him, he had gone from four inches shorter than her to two inches taller than her), she decided to offer a bit of advice. “I have a good friend who told me something important once.”  
At his questioning glance, she continued, “He said that if you don’t talk about your problems, then you might as well drift off to Asphodel.”  
He smiled weakly. “That’s not what I said.”  
“It’s what you meant.”  
“Yeah, I guess,” he murmured softly.  
“Good, because I am your friend. I’m not letting you suffer like that,” Reyna replied as she hugged him.

**Author's Note:**

> I have been thinking about something like this for a while. Everyone seems to register that Percy and Annabeth are messed up after their travels through Tarturus. There are a lot of different fanfics out there about that. However, no one really seems to talk about how it must have affected Nico.  
> Like seriously, he was a fourteen year old kid at the time. He was trapped there all alone, with only the company of those who wanted to hurt him. That could not have left him mentally okay.  
> So I decided to write about that. I also have a headcanon that Nico and Reyna are great friends. One interesting fact I learned is that your brain stores faces and names separately. It groups the names with others that you feel the same about. This does not specifically mean that he sees her as a sister in this, but I was intending for it to clearly imply that they are super close.  
> Also, I just had to throw Bianca in there. What kind of a writer would I be if I didn’t add a little bit of heart wrenching adorableness?  
> I do ship Reynico, but this was actually intended to be platonic. There is more than one type of love, and I wanted to explore this one.  
> Yeah, but I mostly just wanted to write some angst.


End file.
